Special Night for Collins, and a Win for the Nets

Jason Collins, right, played the game’s final eight minutes and finished with 3 points for the Nets.CreditCreditBob Pearson/European Pressphoto Agency

By Justin Felisko

Feb. 28, 2014

DENVER — Jason Collins trotted onto the court with 8 minutes 2 seconds left in the fourth quarter Thursday night, the way he had done many times during his 13-year N.B.A. career.

However, this instance was different.

Among the fans at Pepsi Center who applauded Collins, a 7-foot Nets center, were the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in 1998. Collins wears No. 98 in Shepard’s honor.

Collins, the league’s first openly gay player, planned to meet privately with Judy and Dennis Shepard after the Nets’ 112-89 victory over the Denver Nuggets. Collins, 35, said before the game that it would be an honor to meet the Shepards and that he was looking forward to a “very special meeting.”

Collins played the game’s final 8:02 and finished with 3 points for the Nets (27-29), who recovered from a 124-80 loss at Portland on Wednesday. He made his only field-goal attempt, a jumper with 1:39 left, and committed four fouls.

The Nets stormed out to a 29-8 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Point guard Deron Williams played the entire quarter and scored 5 points, helping the Nets set the tone.

“We just knew what we had to do,” Williams said. “The team that showed up yesterday wasn’t us and wasn’t what we wanted to be. We had to come out with a better effort tonight, and we were able to do that.”

While the Nets’ offense flourished in the first, Denver struggled, going 3 for 18 from the field and setting an N.B.A. season low for first-quarter points.

The Nets ended a six-game losing streak against the Nuggets in Denver that dated to Jan. 27, 2007, when Jason Kidd was the Nets’ point guard.

Kidd, now the team’s first-year coach, said he was impressed by his players’ ability to press the tempo even though it was their second game in two nights.

The Nets outscored the Nuggets by 19-3 in fast-break points and received at least 8 minutes and 3 points from all 13 players.

“We were fresh after back-to-backs,” Kidd said. “Normally we are not fresh, so we don’t have that many fast-break points.”

Kidd added that the Nets shared the ball well.

“It wasn’t just one guy taking it and shooting it,” he said. “Guys were creating movement, and there was a lot of trust offensively.”

The Nets led by 59-36 at halftime after shooting 51.2 percent from the field, compared with 32.5 percent by Denver.

“I have never seen anything like the whole first half,” Nuggets Coach Brian Shaw said. “In all of the years that I’ve played, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Paul Pierce scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the third quarter as the Nets kept up their first-half performance.

Randy Foye led Denver (25-32), which lost its fourth straight game, with 15 points.

The Nets improved to 3-2 on their six-game trip, which concludes Saturday in Milwaukee.

Collins called it a fun night, especially compared with the previous one.

“We got the win,” he said. “That’s the most important thing.” He added, “It was good to have a bounce-back game like this.”

Before the game, he said he was “very honored” when he heard that Dennis Shepard said this week that his son would have looked up to Collins, who also wore No. 98 earlier in his career with the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards before announcing his sexual orientation last year.

Collins, who was a student at Stanford at the time of Matthew Shepard’s death, said 1998 was a significant year to him and many others.

“Of course it is a tragedy what happened, and I just hope it inspires others to move forward,” Collins said.

Shaw, who played against Collins in the 2002 finals, when Shaw was with the Los Angeles Lakers and Collins was in his first stint with the Nets, said Collins had always been well liked by his teammates.

More important, Shaw said, he is happy for Collins, who signed a 10-day contract with the Nets on Sunday.

“I think it’s great that he is able to be himself and not have to hide who he really is,” Shaw said. “It’s great for him and for the league.”

Collins’s teammate Marquis Teague said: “It’s great. He is being who he is, which is being yourself. Just like anybody else.”

After the Nets’ victory, Collins was preparing for the second half of his evening, meeting the Shepards.

“It was great,” Judy Shepard later told The Associated Press. “He’s very kind, smart, humble. It was delightful. We were happy to finally have the opportunity to meet.”

Saying someone’s sexuality should not be an issue, Dennis Shepard told The A.P.: “It should be just an ordinary everyday thing, like the military now. That’s what we’re hoping for soon.”

Before Collins left to meet them, he grabbed a black autographed No. 98 jersey from his locker.

It was a gift for the Shepards.

Collins laughed. “I did not want to give them a sweaty jersey,” he said. “This is a backup.”